Balancing Motherhood and DIY

I usually keep this blog strictly DIY and decor type stuff, but when Meagan from The Charming Farmer included me in her DIY Mama party, and I couldn’t pass it up!

I started this blogging journey one year ago and I have made great strides in growing my audience and making friends with other bloggers, but contrary to popular belief, it is a LOT of work. Luckily, it is work I enjoy with a community I LOVE! My supportive family, my readers and my blogger friends really make this so worth the time and effort it takes to keep things going. When this list of questions showed up in my inbox, I laughed a little because I really don’t feel like I do balance it all. Some days you are the grasshopper and some days you are the ant. Some days are filled with meltdowns (you OR the kids) and some days are Brady Bunch-esque. But I thought about my answers for a while and it all comes down to some pretty simple answers….here it goes.

1. How do you find/make time to DIY and/or blog?

This is a convoluted answer but stay with me….Do you ever talk to someone who is forever working out and is fit as a fiddle and in your head you say something along the lines of “I have no time/I wish I had time to go to the gym?” I do. But let’s be honest for a second. It’s not that I don’t have time or couldn’t make time. The problem is, there is something else I want to do with that time that I make! For me, I would rather work off those cookies I made with the kids, by lifting wood and tool boxes around my shop while I build something than hang around a gym doing squats. We all carve time out in our days to do SOMETHING. My something is DIY and blogging. I may have to get up before the kids, or stay up later than them, but it all works out when you love your projects and you love writing.

2. What is the biggest challenge of motherhood?

The kids of course 🙂 Motherhood is one giant challenge. Kids will push you to the end of your limits and then they will pull you off your ledge with a hug, a kiss and a smile. But sometimes I think some of us mothers make our own challenges when we put a little too much pressure on ourselves. Once upon a time, Dr. Spock was the only authority on parenting you had to worry about. Now the internet provides you with millions of opinions on what you should do and how to do it. Sometimes you have fun filled days outdoors and the kids don’t fight and it’s all rainbows and sunshine. Other days the kids can’t look at each other without arguing, the house is a mess, your daughter’s favorite shirt isn’t clean and if one more person walks through the pile of food you are trying to sweep up you are gonna lose it. Those are usually the days that more time gets spent in front of the iPads with brains turned off than being fun and creative. But that’s life. I just try to remember that if it feels right to me and my husband, then we are doing ok (even if that means they get more than 2 hours of screen time that day, take that internet parenting experts!)

3. Any special tricks or tips for balancing both?

Balancing perpetual DIY and children means involving the kids in what you do. There is always something for a child to do in a project. They can measure the wood (woohoo for math,) they can hammer nails (fine motor skills,) they can paint (color recognition,) and in the end they have worked with their hands and their brains, they have felt included and they take some ownership in that final product. Some projects may not be so kid friendly, or you have a deadline for a post and you don’t have the patience that day to help little hands. Those are the days I spend one half doing something fun with them like a park play date or mini golf, then they come home wanting some time to do “their” thing and I get to do mine.

4. What is your dream DIY kid based project?

I would love to build an awesome, pimped out treehouse for them. Like one of those tree houses that look like you would rather live in it than in your own house. That would be my dream project.

5. Who would be your dream babysitter?

Well there’s Mary Poppins but she is too perfect and would make me look inadequate. Pass. Super Nanny, too strict. I’m looking for a babysitter not a drill sergeant. Then in left field we have Jessie Prescott, the nanny from Jessie. She is young and fun and funny and loves kids. If she were a real nanny, I’d snag her in a second!

6. Do you have any awesome DIY kid based projects that you’ve completed?

Well yes, yes I do! You can check some of them out by clicking on the pictures.
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Finally, I will leave you with the best piece of advice I have ever gotten about raising kids. “They are only little once, enjoy every minute.” While life still has to go on, and bills still have to get paid, remember that they are little only for a short time. They will stop waking to be fed at night, they will stop needing to hold your hand, they will stop needing you to drive them places, don’t let it all go by without stopping to enjoy the view.

Now you can click on Bee’s link and go see how she manages to do it all! There are two days worth of awesome women you should definitely meet so keep on clicking through!

This is the largest word to photo ratio I have ever published. I hope you didn’t mind all the reading!

Oh, and if you need a little help balancing all your shopping, you can enter this giveaway for a chance to win a $15 gift card to Target and Lowes….perfect for a DIY mama! Woot Woot! Just click on this link #DIYmama Giveaway

Hi! I’m Jillian and I love to make my home beautiful by using my DIY skills, my eye for design and my love of a bargain. I tell everyone and anyone who will listen, about my latest projects. Got a minute? 🙂Read more…

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I am not an expert. Please use my posts and plans as inspiration.By visiting this website you agree to our terms and conditions. Please review them by clicking here.
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